To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail any assessment her Department has been made of the risks to public health and water users, arising from the absence of real-time sewage discharge alerts in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is responsible for monitoring water quality at bathing waters, including carrying out sampling, monitoring and investigations to assess the condition of the bathing water.

The management of public wastewater infrastructure is an operational matter for NI Water. However, I have sought the requested information from NI Water and have been advised that NI Water is currently working with DAERA to develop a pilot project for near real time Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) reporting to support DAERA in making assessments of public health risks for water users, particularly bathers.

In addition, NI Water has advised it has approximately 655 EDMs installed and sufficiently verified to support effective use for operational maintenance and monitoring.

For any future queries relating to operational matters, you should contact NI Water directly, through the Elected Representatives Hotline on 0345 300 6461 or through waterline@niwater.com . Making direct contact with NI Water will ensure that you receive the information in the shortest possible timeframe and make best use of limited public resources.